Nearly 3 - how long does it take?

[reallyorange]

My ds is 2.11, and we have a new baby coming late Jan. I've been waiting for the right time to start potty training but worried that if I leave it too late it'll all get disrupted by the new arrival. Is 2 months enough time?
The reason I've waited even though he's bright and very verbal is that he's never seemed to notice or tell us when he's does a wee or poo (or denies it) so I don't think he knows the 'cues'. From friends' advice I guess this isn't essential but not sure how/when to start! Have ordered 'oh crap' but how do you avoid your whole house getting covered in wee or poo?!

He will sit on the potty/toilet (with insert) with a bit of cajoling but never manages to do anything while there. Nursery are happy to help out.

DD was 3.1 and was fairly reliable within a week, I could count the accidents she's had on one hand.

My friend recommended Potty Training in 3 days, cheap on Kindle I think.
Basic premise - give your kid a shit load of juice/milk/water and totally bribe them to wee on the toilet. (Skip potty as it's just another thing to transition to afterwards)
Don't leave the house.
1 sweetie for a wee. 2 for a poo.
I used smarties.

Very effective for us. Good luck!

Oh Crap should answer a lot of your concerns.

He’s sitting on the toilet but not doing anything because he hasn’t made the connections yet. So first they realise they have done a wee, then they need to realise they are weeing and then they can realise that they need to wee. With Oh Crap, you try to catch the signal that they’re about to wee so that you can move them to the potty/toilet and this starts to teach them to make the connections.

Your house shouldn’t be covered in wee and poo so try not to worry! Yes there might be a few occasions in the early days but it won’t last long.

Good luck!

Thanks! I'm definitely open to bribing. He's already been told he'll get a train when he does his first wee or poo in the potty (he might think that's why it's potty training...)

I can't not leave the house though, he's at nursery 3 days/week (which might actually be better?!) and he goes a bit mad if he doesn't get out - but we can keep visits short/bring spare clothes...

I literally left it up to DS1 until he hated nappies and wanted to wee on the toilet, done and dusted within a day. He was 2.5, easy peasy.

I just waited for him to be ready and had absolutely no faff with stickers or sweets. Probably pot luck played a part too but yep I always recommend just waiting for them to tell you they're ready. Good luck!

You don’t need to stay in the house! Close to Home might be good for a few days but once you’re over the initial bit you’ll be ok.

My DD was in the garden on the first afternoon (it was feb so I wasn’t just letting her run around baked!), she went for short bike rides & scoots on day 2 and we were going to classes and playgroups by days 5/6. She wasn’t in Nursery until day 10 so that could be a bit trickier but just see how he’s doing. Start as far away from his next Nursery day as possible!

Dts were reliably trained in three days BUT we waited until they were 3.4. Probably could have done it earlier but I couldn’t face two kids having accidents all the time.